If you’ve just bought a new home in or around Detroit, or you’re simply curious, it can be difficult to figure out what kind of wood floor you have. There are dozens of different species of hardwood used for flooring, and many of them look similar. To find the type you have, you are going to need to some investigating. It’s advisable to start with the least-invasive process and move towards more invasive methods.
Read More How to Determine What Species of Wood Floor You Have
On a big picture level, there are two basic kinds of hardwood flooring: solid hardwood and engineered hardwood. If you’re considering new hardwood floors in Detroit, it’s important to know the difference. Solid hardwood is exactly what it sounds like. Pieces of hardwood are cut and then milled into planks for a floor. Typically, they’re about three-quarters of an inch thick. That gives you plenty of material to sand and refinish if need be. Engineered hardwood is made of three or more layers of wood that are bonded together under extreme heat. The differences between these two different types of wood aren’t aesthetic. They tend to look about the same once they’re installed. The differences are practical. That makes it very important for you to know different ways to tell them apart.
Wide-plank hardwood flooring is very popular for homeowners looking to create a distinct look for their home. Wide hardwood planks mimic the planks used in antique homes when wood was sawn by hand. Since trees were felled and processed by hand, the crafters would often keep the planks wide in order to minimize their machining. Wide planks went out of favor for a while but they are making a comeback. If you want to get in on this trend, you should consider a few things.
As more and more people become conscious of the amount of energy they are consuming as well as the expenses from that, radiant heating is becoming more popular. Radiant heating involves coils of metal wires or metal pipes. The pipes run underneath the floor. They are heated either by running electricity through the wires or by running hot water through the pipes. That heat transfers into the floor and radiates into the room. It’s considered more efficient than a traditional heater which uses heated air to warm up a room. It’s more efficient because a radiant system heats up the floor and the furniture as opposed to heating the air. A floor will obviously hold heat longer than air will. So, less heat is required to heat a room. However, hardwood floors are also trending. Are there dangers?
Read More Homeowners Are Installing Hardwood Floors Over Radiant Heat Systems
If you’ve been paying attention to hardwood flooring trends in Detroit lately, you know that wide flooring planks are very popular. They mimic an older style of creating hardwood floors, as well as adding a sense of space to smaller rooms. However, a new trend has begun to emerge to coincide with wider planks. Many homeowners and businesses are also choosing longer planks. The longer planks are often wider as well, but they don’t have to be.
If you have been in the market for hardwood flooring or just paying attention to recent trends, you’ve likely seen the terms “green” and “sustainable” used frequently. They’re often used for everything from coffee to trash bags to hardwood floors. They seem to be used interchangeably, but are they the same thing? When it comes to hardwood floors, they are not the exact same thing. They’re related, though.
Read More Are Green and Sustainable the Same Thing for Wood Floors?
Rustic and distressed wood floors has been growing in popularity for years now. The trend towards distressed wood and reclaimed wood has been growing consistently. That trend has grown to the point now that some homeowners are hiring professionals to burn-stain their hardwood flooring. Burn-staining is basically what it sounds like; someone uses fire to lightly burn the wood to add color, texture, and depth. Here’s how it works.
Read More Professionals Can Burn-Stain Your Hardwood Floor in Detroit
Textured hardwoods are very popular at the moment. There are several different types of textured hardwoods and several different ways to texture them. If you’ve been looking through different hardwood flooring trends, you’ve likely seen the words “distressed” and “hand-scraped” used. At a glance, they even look like they might be the same thing. They’re not quite the same, though. Distressing is a whole category of different techniques to make wood look older and more weathered. Hand-scraping is an specific process.
Read More What Is the Difference Between Hand-Scraped Floors and Distressed Floors?
Hardwood flooring is graded based on its color, structural integrity, grain, imperfections, and uniformity. When a hardwood floor is basically free from imperfections or inconsistent coloring, it is considered to be select grade or premium quality. The bottom grades are either cabin grade or rustic, depending on the manufacturer. That means that the planks are inconsistent in coloring and grain, they might have natural imperfections, and they might have manufacturing imperfections.
Read More Cabin Grade Hardwood Flooring Is About More Than Just Budgets
One interesting hardwood flooring trend in 2019 is not actually a flooring trend. You could call it a “walling” trend. Many homeowners have begun matching their walls to their hardwood floors. If you’re having a new hardwood floor installed, you could do this by measuring your floor and then measuring a wall as well. You could then order enough square feet or hardwood flooring to cover the floor and one of the walls. Typically, those who install hardwood walling only install the hardwood on one wall. Putting hardwood matching the floor on all four walls might become a little clustered and cabin-like. However, choosing a different size plank or a different wood could change the look enough that it might work.